We are the combination of four hospitals: the General Hospital, the Children’s Hospital, the Women’s Hospital and the Traumatology, Rehabilitation and Burns Hospital. We are part of the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus: a world-leading health park where healthcare plays a crucial role.
Below we will list the departments and units that form part of Vall d’Hebron Hospital and the main diseases that we treat. We will also make recommendations based on advice backed up by scientific evidence that has been shown to be effective in guaranteeing well-being and quality of life.
We will guide you from your first visit to the centre, allowing you to find all the departments and make the most of our facilities. Whatever the reason for your visit, we will explain how to get about the hospital.
It is a cancer that develops in muscle and soft tissue. It can therefore be found in any part of the body, although most commonly in the head and neck, including the eye sockets. Despite being a rare cancer, as are all tumours in children, it is the most common cancer of the soft tissue found in childhood. This disease is more common in boys than in girls.
Although mainly found in the head and neck, it may also occur in the genitourinary system such as the bladder and prostate in boys and the vagina or uterus in girls. It may also appear in other places such as the limbs (arms and legs) and, less commonly, in the abdomen and around the genitals and anus. Symptoms vary depending on the location of the tumour.
More than half of all soft tissue sarcoma found in children are rhabdomyosarcoma. Most children are diagnosed under nine years old, but this type of cancer can appear at any age.
Different symptoms are produced depending on where tumours are located.
Malignant neoplasms are rare, but they are one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in this age group. Around 1,000 patients under 14 years of age are diagnosed with cancer every year in Spain. Rhabdomyosarcoma represents 6% of cancers in children meaning there are 60 new cases every year in Spain.
The child’s doctor will perform a very careful examination and to reach a diagnosis the doctor will request several tests, which may include:
These tests will help to determine the size and location of the tumour and whether it has spread to any other part of the body.
Rhabdomyosarcoma is a highly malignant type of tumour and must therefore be treated with a combination of therapies including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Each of these treatments is administered depending on the condition of the tumour and the age of the child.
There are currently no known measures to help prevent this type of tumour.
Select the newsletter you want to receive:
By accepting these conditions, you are agreeing to the processing of your personal data for the provision of the services requested through this portal, and, if necessary, for any procedures required by the administrations or public bodies involved in this processing, and their subsequent inclusion in the aforementioned automated file. You may exercise your rights to access, rectification, cancellation or opposition by writing to web@vallhebron.cat, clearly stating the subject as "Exercising of Data Protection Rights". Operated by: Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron - Institut Català de la Salut. Purpose: Manage the user’s contact information. Legitimisation: Express acceptance of the privacy policy. Rights: To access, rectify, and delete personal information data, as well to the portability thereof and to limit and/or oppose their use. Source: The interested party themselves.